Meh, first two thirds of the game is mainly for setting up the all important last third. Or rather, half an hour to decide if you like the contestant, fifteen minutes to determine whether they actually do well or not. You could probably do the entire case opening of the first three rounds in one go, but you need the bank interlude to break up the action a bit.
It's a reasonable thought to dislike the "player walks in, doesn't do much, walks back out $X richer" aspect. What do you think of the European daily way of doing things? Everyone who gets on contestant's row is guaranteed a shot, but they could be on box-opening duty for up to four weeks of recordings before they get their go. We get four weeks to get to know people. Once they've had their go, they're off and replaced on contestants row by a brand new contestant.
We had one guy who jacked his job in for a chance to appear on the show. He was offered almost £20,000 (about $30,000) at one stage with a good board, declined it, went home with £10 ($15). Ouch.